Disclaimer - I have not acquired the Harry Potter franchise since I last updated... surprisingly.
A/N - So... what's in the Forest? Here we find out! Thanks for all your wonderful reviews and brilliant guesses, although no one was quite right! Some of them I read and thought "Damn, I wish it was that!" but hey ho... Enjoy!
For a few seconds the two remained still, looking at each other intently. Lily not daring to move for fear of frightening it, for the enormous eyes of the tiny House Elf were full of tears and terror.
"Don't worry." Lily breathed, "We're here to help you."
The elf continued to look at Lily, its bottom lip began to tremble and it burst into hysterical sobs.
"Shh, shh." Lily whispered desperately, afraid that the noise would attract unwelcome guests. "It's alright."
The little creature looked up at her, tears making red tracks down its dirty face.
"Are you hurt?" Lily asked, and the elf whimpered, looking down at its leg, which was bound by a length of black rope. The skin around the binding was red raw, almost burnt looking. Lily gasped and went to untie it but the elf only let out another bloodcurdling scream,
"No! You mustn't touch it!" The elf held out its hands to stop Lily coming closer. "It will burn Miss!"
Lily stopped and looked back at the bushes where Scorpius and Hagrid were still waiting before turning back to the elf.
"My friends are just outside the clearing, they might be able to help." She said, and motioned for Hagrid and Scorpius to come forward. They stepped out of the bushes and crossed to where
Lily was kneeling by the frightened elf.
Hagrid set to a close examination of the rope, and Scorpius knelt down next to Lily.
"Who did this to you?" He asked the tiny elf, but it only shook its head, the bat-like ears flapping ridiculously.
"Flitter does not know, sir. She was doing some cleaning of the boys bathroom when someone grabbed her from behind and shouted a spell to blind her. When Flitter could see again, she was here in the Forest."
"Couldn't you Apparate out?" Asked Scorpius in confusion.
"Flitter tried sir." She said, with another shake of her head, "But the rope held her here and burnt her when she tried to get away."
Hagrid looked stood up and looked deeper into the dark of the Forest,
"Tha' there's cursed rope, I've only ever seen it once before – it's powerful magic, something tha' should be far beyond a schoolchild."
"So what do we do?" Asked Lily, who was now rubbing Flitter's back as she sobbed quietly.
"You two go up the castle, bring Professor Jordan down. I'll stay here with Flitter."
Lily and Scorpius made to get up when Hagrid held out a hand,
"Shh." He said and they froze. In the distance, they could hear a heavy scuttling sound, it got closer and closer as Hagrid backed away from the trees to the edge of the clearing. Suddenly, a huge spider burst through the wall of foliage, its bulbous body covered in black hair, and Lily fought back a scream as it made a dash for them across the clearing, but then a jet of red light shot past her and the spider went flying through the air, hitting a tree with a sickening crunch. Lily looked behind her to see Scorpius standing, wand still raised, staring at where the creature had fallen.
"You know, most people run or attempt to defend themselves when mad spiders are attacking them." He said, his tone was joking but there was an inexplicable anger in his eyes.
"Panicked." She said, trying desperately to regulate her breathing. There were a few moments of horrible silence before the sound started up again, something was scuttling towards them, only this time it was louder, much louder than before.
"We have to get outta here." Hagrid said, looking down at the stunned House Elf with a mixture of guilt and pity. Scorpius nodded in agreement, and Lily looked at the other two, incredulous.
"We aren't leaving her hear – those things are going to be here any second."
She looked from Scorpius to Hagrid again, neither of whom would meet her eyes. She was about to speak again, to tell them what cowards they were being when she heard another tiny voice,
"Go, Miss and Sirs. Leave Flitter here, there is nothing that can be done. But please, Sirs and Miss, when you get back to the castle, find an Elf named Dibsy and tell him that his Flitter is waiting for him in heaven."
"No." Lily said, and she felt every eyes in the clearing turn to her. "You are going to come back to the castle with us."
She ran over to the tethered elf and attempted to untie the rope from her leg. As soon as she touched it, she felt a searing pain in her hands. She could feel her palms burning as she tried desperately to remove the rope from around the ankle of the elf. She could barely see what she was doing through the tears that welled in her eyes as she fumbled with the rope. The scuttling sound was close now, almost deafening, and she felt herself being pulled up and dragged from the clearing as she saw ten, then twenty, then fifty giant spiders enter the clearing, hundreds of glistening eyes staring at them as they ran. Lily couldn't see, only felt herself being pulled through the Forest, branches hitting her as she ran. She heard another strangled scream, cut off suddenly, echoing through the Forest. When they finally broke through the final row of trees and emerged into the dark grounds, Lily fell to her knees, her body shaking with sobs. Scorpius knelt down next to her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged him off.
"Don't touch me." She hissed, and he stepped back. They let her cry for a few seconds before she turned to them,
"How could we? We just left her there to die!"
"We had to, Lily. They would have killed us too, if we had stayed." Scorpius tried to reason gently, but Lily only stared at him, eyes blazing.
"We could have tried." She shouted, her anger echoing through the grounds. "But you just dragged me away, like cowards." She was quite beyond herself now, her usually warm brown eyes blazing with anger and her hair like a halo of flame around her head. She shot Scorpius and Hagrid a last withering look before storming away across the grounds towards the castle.
Scorpius looked worriedly after her, and then to Hagrid, who nodded at him to follow her. Without further ado, Scorpius pelted into the darkness after the girl.
"Lily!" He called as he drew level with her, his long legs allowing him to catch her up.
"Go away, Scorpius." She said, her voice wavering from the tears that poured down her face.
"Don't do this, please. You know we didn't have a choice." He pleaded with her.
"You know what, Scorpius?" She said, whirling to face him, "I used to think you were brave, that you were better than everyone thought, but apparently I was wrong. You are coward, just like your father. Flitter may have only been a House Elf but she had just as much worth as the rest of us. I should have known better than to think you were more than a Malfoy." She spat as she turned around to storm back to the castle, but he grabbed her by the arm and whirled her around to face him. He was bubbling over with anger, and he was afraid for a second of what he would do, but then Lily looked in to his angry, guilty eyes and the fight went out of her.
"I'm sorry." She whimpered, and he couldn't help softening. The helpless look that she had now made it impossible to remain angry with her.
"It's alright." He said, and he put his arms around her and let her sob into his robes.
"No, it isn't. I shouldn't have said that, you didn't deserve it." She whimpered.
"You were angry." He shushed her, letting go.
"That isn't an excuse." She said, looking up at him sheepishly, "But I didn't mean it."
"I know." He said, with a small smile. He tucked her under his arm and walked her back up to the castle.
"Are you alright?" He asked when they reached the Entrance Hall, "Or do you need to go to the Hospital Wing?"
"No, I'm alright." She replied, "But I want to go down to the kitchens."
"Oh." Said Scorpius, suddenly remembering Flitter's last request with horrible clarity. "Yeah."
They stood in awkward silence for a few seconds before Lily asked meekly,
"Will you come with me?"
"Of course." Scorpius replied, taking her hand again to lead her to the painting of a fruit bowl that would allow them access to the Hogwarts kitchens. Scorpius tickled the pear, and the painting swung forward. The huge kitchen was surprisingly cold and empty looking at night, and Lily shivered.
Suddenly, they heard a voice behind them and jumped,
"What is it you are wanting, Sir and Miss?"
They turned to see a tiny elf, wearing a fluffy blue towel sitting on a stool in the corner of the kitchen.
"Dibsy is sorry to have frightened you." He said, and Lily's heart skipped a beat. "Can Dibsy help you?"
Lily's mouth went dry. She couldn't tell this helpless creature that his love had just been brutally slaughtered. She simply stood staring at him for a few seconds before Scorpius spoke up,
"We have some... unfortunate news."
The elf's eyes widened, and his next words were so high Scorpius could barely hear them.
"Flitter?"
Scorpius nodded gravely.
"Someone abducted her while she was out cleaning tonight and..." He couldn't finish his sentence, but trailed off under the intense stare of the anguished elf.
"Has Flitter gone to the Hospital Wing?" He asked softly, "Should Dibsy go to her?"
"We're sorry Dibsy," Lily cut in, unable to witness the elf's confusion any longer, "She didn't make it."
Dibsy looked from her to Scorpius, who nodded gravely. He whimpered once and dropped to the floor. He put his head in his hands and began to moan softly, rocking back and forth where he sat on the cold stone flags of the kitchen.
"There was nothing we could do." Lily said, pleading with the elf to understand. "She asked us to come to tell you that... that she's waiting for you in heaven."
Dibsy raised his huge eyes to Lily, not full of tears as she expected, but hollow and empty.
"And Miss had time to hear Flitter's message but not to save her?" Dibsy asked, and Lily's heart sank.
"She was... she was bound by a curse rope. I tried to free her, I really did." She explained, her eyes beginning to fill with tears again, frustration with her inability to convey to the agonized elf the desperate situation they had been in.
"But in the end, the lives of Sir and Miss were more important than the life of a House Elf." Dibsy said, and Lily was shocked by his simple, matter of fact tone.
"No!" She said desperately, "There was nothing we could have done... there were so many of them... we couldn't have... we tried..." She faltered off, staring at the floor in shame.
"Even the bravest Gryffindor house would not save an elf. Even bravest Gryffindors do not understand, do not care for the feelings of their servants. Who cares for the elf who has died? Dibsy cares, but Dibsy is just another elf. He has no feelings. He will happily continue to sweep Miss's floors and make Miss's bed because she is sorry. And she tried." Lily started back at Dibsy, shocked by his anger. She opened her mouth to defend herself, but could not speak. She knew he was right, nothing felt like enough. Nothing would console him, and nothing would make it better.
"Don't blame her." Scorpius interjected. "She wanted to stay, she wanted to help. It was me who dragged her away. She's come down here to give you Flitter's message when she should be at the Hospital Wing because she burnt her hand trying to free her."
Dibsy looked as though he might burst again, but then he looked at Lily, tears running down her face, and sighed.
"Dibsy is sorry for his words, Miss. He did not mean to be so horrible."
"Don't apologise." Lily insisted, kneeling down beside him. "You were right, we should have done more. But I promise whoever did this will be found."
"And what is the point of that?" Asked Dibsy, putting his head on his knees. "What is the point if it will not bring her back?"
Scorpius could find no answer, but looked to Lily, who shook her head.
Dibsy continued to rock on the floor, strangled sobs ripping themselves from his chest and growing until another tiny elf emerged from a side door.
"What is wrong with Dibsy, Sir and Miss?" She asked, looking down at her friend.
"Flitter's been killed." Scorpius said, and Dibsy wailed on the floor beneath him. The other elf gasped and shook her head.
"That is a terrible thing, Sir and Miss. Dibsy will not recover, oh and he will blame himself." She fretted, leaning down to pat the stricken elf on the shoulder in a vain attempt to comfort him.
"How could he think that? It wasn't his fault. It was those monsters who took her." Lily exclaimed.
"He will think it is his fault, Miss. You see, he was meant to be cleaning the boys bathrooms tonight, but he had a headache Miss. So Flitter offered to do it for him. He has been waiting up all
night for her to come back."
Lily felt tears welling in her eyes again, and stood up to try to wipe them away.
"Do not cry, Miss." The elf said, "Dibsy will be alright, in time."
"Perhaps it would be best if we left." Scorpius said as more and more elves appeared to crowd around Dibsy.
"Maybe that would be best, Sir." One of the elves squeaked as they gathered around their grief-stricken friend. Lily and Scorpius took one last look at the huddled form of Dibsy and went
as quietly as possible back through the painting. Once outside, Lily let the tears flow silently down her face. Scorpius took hold of her shoulders and turned her to face him.
"Don't feel responsible. This isn't your fault." He said firmly.
"I just wish we could have done something." She said, desperately trying to stifle her sobs.
"But we couldn't. Imagine how your parents would have felt if you'd stayed to try and save her. You would have died, and she still would have died. No one would ever want to do something
like that, but you didn't have a choice. Come on, you need to go to the Hospital Wing."
"I'm fine." Lily said, turning to go up the stairs to the Gryffindor Common Room.
"No you aren't," Scorpius said, "Show me your hands."
She turned sheepishly to him, palms raised, to show the angry red welts on her skin.
"Right. We are going to the Hospital Wing." Scorpius said sternly.
Lily bowed her head and let Scorpius lead her back down the corridor towards the Hospital Wing. They knocked softly on the doors of the Hospital Wing and Madam Patil opened it,
"What is it?" She asked briskly, looking down at them.
"I burnt my hands." Lily muttered, showing her palms to the nurse, who gasped and ushered her in, muttering about "what on earth these young people get up to in the dead of night".
"See you." Lily managed to say as Madam Patil whisked her away.
"See you." Scorpius muttered as the door closed, and he was left alone in the dark corridor.
A/N - I think I was having a really bad day when I wrote this... So sorry about all the sadness. Reviews are always welcome, all the ones I got for my last chapter were lovely and I would love to see some more!
